


I'll Follow My Tracks (See All The Times I Should Have Turned Back)

by CombatBootsandDreams



Series: Glow in the dark [8]
Category: The Magnus Archives (Podcast)
Genre: Annabelle Cane has friends, Annabelle Cane is sad, Annabelle Cane thinks about her friends, Canon-Typical The Web Content (The Magnus Archives), Canon-Typical Violence, Family, Friends as Family, Friendship, Hurt No Comfort, Minor Angst, Minor cursing, Multi, No beta we kayak like Tim, POV Annabelle Cane, Partners in Crime, Self-Reflection, be gay do crime
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-15
Updated: 2020-10-15
Packaged: 2021-03-08 19:21:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,557
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27031852
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CombatBootsandDreams/pseuds/CombatBootsandDreams
Summary: Annabelle Cane and the rest of the avatars commit a robbery as she reflects on her friends and thinks about her family.Or: Be Gay Do Crimes but sad.
Relationships: Gerard Keay/Jonathan "Jon" Sims | The Archivist, Naomi Herne/Evan Lukas (mentioned), Pre Annabelle Cane/Nikola Orsinov
Series: Glow in the dark [8]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1924183
Comments: 2
Kudos: 77





	I'll Follow My Tracks (See All The Times I Should Have Turned Back)

**Author's Note:**

> This is kind of a setup story for Annabelle's arc. Don't worry we will find out how The Archivist died and became a full avatar soon. That story has just been going through lots of rewrites. The title is from Brandi Carlile's "Hard Way Home"

Annabelle thinks that if The Web had claimed Jon after marking him, he would have been a great avatar of The Web. As it was though, Jon fit in better as an avatar of Beholding. Not as ruthless as his predecessor and not as manipulative as his boss but sharp as a tack. Especially once he understood what was really going on. Had trust issues a mile long but could do the mental gymnastics that was required to be The Archivist like he was born for it and maybe he was. Couldn’t lie or talk his way out of shit but could redirect and derail questions like he was an avatar of The Spiral. Could question you so well that you could give him the pin to your bank account or tell him your deepest darkest secret and still walk out thinking you didn’t tell him anything of value. It’s why they had gotten along so well, The Web and The Eye had always agreed on one thing, knowledge is power.

Maybe that’s why she brought him in on it; the scheme that is. It wasn’t a big deal, not really, just enough to feed The Web, have a little fun, and have enough money to pay for rent. What she could not figure out, is how this became a _family_ affair. Well, if you count her family as all her friends. She hadn’t spoken to her family since the _accident._ She wants to, its just they don’t know anything about this. She doesn’t know if she wants them to. That small human bit of her wanted to protect them from the entities. Even if that meant protecting them from her. Even if there is so much she would give to just see them one more time, to let them know she’s okay. To explain what had happened.

She can think about it later. A heist is not the time to get emotional.

They were all there. Jude and Daisy working private security under aliases in black and white suits. Oliver and Crew as potential investors ready to step in if anything went wrong and Gerry and Jon stealing whatever they can in the back. Mostly books, and the actual supernatural objects. Nikola was the distraction to cover her exit, currently pretending to be a statue. Helen was the getaway driver, well less driver, and more getaway door opener.

And Annabelle, well Annabelle was focusing on their target. An investor heavily tied to The Slaughter. Had managed to piss enough people off that half the Entities were gunning for his head on a spike. Annabelle’s plan? The man already had a statement or two but no longing to go to the Magnus Institute, plant that seed in his head, and leave him for The Archivist to take care of in the next day or so. Cruel, but well what could she do about that?

A lot really, she could end it right here, save the man in front of her the terror, but Jon was pretty nice, as far as avatars went. He wouldn’t be too bad, unless he dug too deep, pushed too hard, and found something dark. For someone so kind, Jon had a bit of a vengeful streak if you hurt someone he cared about. Then you never knew what he would do, what The Archivist would do. Annabelle shivered.

She was going soft. Wasn’t sure when it started but she was definitely going a little soft. She should be wary of that. The last time she let her guard down, wasn’t in control of all the pieces, she got half her head caved in. Not that she thinks she can’t trust her friends, not really. Daisy, who’s to blunt for her own good, or Jude, who prefers to solve all her problems with fire. Oliver, who was the calmest avatar she’s ever met, prone to chaotic outbursts sure, but overall, way more put together than he has any reason to be. Crew, who had decided to big brother every single one of them, or Helen, who if you got past her perpetual distortion of reality only wanted someone to talk to. Gerry, who had grown up with the entities being such a fixture of his life and avoiding getting too attached before The End caught up with him. Jon, who’s been manipulated enough times and so thoroughly that she wouldn’t blame him for not trusting anyone ever again, but still threw his lot in with them, with her.

She didn’t know what she’d do if Nikola ever betrayed her.

She was going soft.

She could also focus on that at another date. Like when she wasn’t weaving the death of the slaughter adjacent man in front of her.

“You have some scary stuff here. You ever see anything like that outside of auctions?” She asked even though she knew the answer. She wondered if that’s how Jon felt. Knowing the answers to your questions but still having to ask.

He looked conflicted, worried, and smug, mostly smug. Wanted to impress her, for a reason just out of her grasp.

The man bent down even though he didn’t have to. He was only about three centimeters taller than her including the heels and whispered that he had. Had seen things, monsters had fought them. That they were terrible things really. That he had collected books and artifacts because he was fascinated with the supernatural, but now that he had seen it he wanted nothing to do with the fake artifacts that were in his home. That he wanted them gone.

Little did he know he had some very real artifacts. Well, he _did_ have some very real artifacts. They were being stolen by Jon and Gerry as they talked. Anything Leitners would get burned and everything else would get shunted off to Saleasa, the money being split between everyone minus Nikola and Helen. Nik was putting her share towards rent like Annabelle herself was and Helen didn’t need money anymore.

“You ever go to the Magnus Institute? They know all about monsters. You should tell them about it.” She whispered just as softly with a small laugh at the end.

He paused, said he’ll think about it.

It didn’t really matter what he thought about it. Not really, the web had already been strung.

He’d be there tomorrow at 9:00 am on the dot after restless bloody nightmares the night before. Then he’d get his statement taken, and if he was lucky he would walk out of the institute with panic gripping his heart and the feeling of being watched lingering far past the exit of Beholding’s stronghold, till his brain and his heart couldn’t take the stress and stopped. Maybe Helen would take him before that, she and Jon had always had some strange agreement about taking the other’s victims. It’s what they were really, victims. No matter how many terrible things the man in front of her had done and she knew his crimes were numerous. It was why he was here, it’s why she was here. Because he had done terrible things and was now paying for it with his life. She knew it wasn’t _right_ , not really. She doesn’t think it really matters in the end. He’ll still be dead by tomorrow.

Good.

Naomi and Evan Herne had gotten married six months ago. Had invited all of them to the wedding. It had been beautiful and gone off without a hitch. She had never seen a wedding go that smoothly and if that was because they had been watching everyone like a hawk to make sure there was no lonely involvement well then it was worth it. Naomi looked so happy to have someone with her and Evan looked so happy to not share his family’s last name anymore. At that moment she had been so happy they had saved them from that damned Lukas wedding. Made her so very sad that they _almost hadn’t._ Had almost left them to their fate amongst the fog and numbness.

Naomi and Evan Herne had just returned home yesterday after they were attacked by a man with a knife and almost died.

Attacked by the man in front of her. The road to hell was paved with good intentions but Annabelle wasn’t sure she believed in hell. Wasn’t sure if she believed in heaven either. Besides, she didn’t have good intentions, not for the man in front of her at least.

**\------------------**

**Group Chat of Unavoidable Chaos:**

**Statement Begins:** We just met up with Helen. See you in 20?

**Spider:** Of course

\----------------

That meant the two lovebirds were out of danger. They would meet up with Saleasa tomorrow to make the exchange. Daisy and Jude were switching shifts with another pair of guards in 20 minutes. Oliver and Crew would leave 13 minutes after them. Then Annabelle would leave with Nikola who would jump to life and scare whoever was in the room. Creating enough chaos that no one would notice Annabelle destroying the video footage of the event and quietly slipping out into the night.

All she had to do now was wait.

But she was _very_ good at that.

She should call her mother soon.

But she could think about that later, she still had a job to do after all. 

**Author's Note:**

> Hey, thanks for reading till the end. If you'd like you can leave a comment and or a suggestion on what you would like to see next. Thank you for all the sweet comments on my other stories.


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